


A View From the Top

by Sasusquatch



Series: Misfit Mutants [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!, Maximum Ride - James Patterson
Genre: Crossover, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-27
Updated: 2015-12-05
Packaged: 2018-03-25 23:44:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 18,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3829312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sasusquatch/pseuds/Sasusquatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haikyuu kids + genetic experiments = ???  Angst, adventure, and deviation from the canon plot of Maximum Ride.  Ships out the wazoo, I'll tag them as they start to form.  Despite the fact that this is TECHNICALLY a crossover I'm trying my best to make it completely understandable to those who haven't read Maximum Ride.  Basically just think of this as a mutant au ;)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, and thanks for checking out my fic! The Flock probably won't be a very big part of this story but they were needed to get everything kick-started. Hope you enjoy!

Bokuto pressed his face against the glass of his cage, hands on either side of his head. He craned his neck as he watched the last of the scientists leave for the night, pulling the curtain across the entrance to the room as they went. The boy sighed and pulled away from the glass. Every night he hoped they’d get some opportunity to escape, but to no avail. He was beginning to get discouraged. What if they’d all be trapped in this lab for the rest of their miserable lives?

  
Across the room Kuroo shot him a small smile, probably meant to encourage him. The black-haired boy’s cat tail waved back and forth behind him, his ears twitching every so often. Bokuto managed a small smirk, but it didn’t stay on his face for very long. He turned his attention to the other enclosures around the room. He was familiar with most of the other experiments, seeing as they’d all been born and forced to live in the same building their entire lives. All of them were genetic experiments, some more successful than others. There were always those who were created and died a few days later. Bokuto always felt awful for them.

  
Some of the experiments had bird wings, like him. Others, like Kuroo, had cat-like features. There were even a couple of them who could change into wolves. Normally wolf mutants would be feared by other experiments, but the few kept in this room were different from the Erasers that the scientists liked to keep as guards and assassins. The experiments with wolf DNA kept in cages were considered more “complete” than the werewolf-like men who were feared. Because unlike the Erasers, the wolf-mutants were able to completely assume a wolf form, not just gain several features. Sometimes Bokuto wished he could be like them. Wings didn’t do much in a building below-ground.  
He sighed again as he leaned back against the cage wall, eyes moving up to stare at the ceiling. Bokuto had never really had a chance to use his wings. The laboratory they were kept in was much too small for him to attempt flight, the best he could do was stretch and flap them from time to time. All he wanted was to get a chance to properly use them, just once. Of course, the likelihood of that happening was slim to none. If he wanted to fly, he’d need to escape the lab first. If he could do that… well, maybe the impossible could become possible.

  
Smiling slightly at the thought, Bokuto flopped down on his side and closed his eyes, deciding that it was time to sleep.

  
***

  
He awoke to what he assumed to be the scientists getting ready for the day’s activities. Assuming that, Bokuto curled in on himself, fear gripping his heart when he imagined the awful tests he’d have to go through that day. _Why the hell did I have to be born a genetic freak?_

  
But when his cage door clicked open, he heard an unfamiliar voice.

 

“Get up, we’re getting you out of here.”

  
Bokuto was startled and sat up immediately, heart racing. His yellow eyes met black ones for a split second before the boy in front of him moved on to another cage. Hesitantly, he crawled out of his enclosure, bare feet hitting the cold linoleum. All around him other experiments were being freed as well. Heart pounding against his chest, Bokuto made his way over to Kuroo.

  
“What’s going on?” he whispered, continuing to glance around. Kuroo shrugged in response.

 

“They said they’re trying to help us. I say we follow them.”

  
By “they”, Kuroo meant the six mystery kids who had shown up in the middle of the night. Bokuto had never seen any of them before but one thing was certain, they were mutants, just like everyone else. That much was clear by the wings each one of them had on their back.

  
“Okay, everybody. Let’s blow this joint.”

  
Bokuto looked up to see an unfamiliar girl with dirty blonde hair helping up a girl with wings named Yachi. The unfamiliar girl strode forward, motioning for everyone to follow her. Bokuto looked at Kuroo, who shrugged again and followed the girl. “The door is open, we might as well make a break for it.”

  
Up ahead a dark skinned girl was quietly urging everyone forward, while a taller boy made a low comment next to her. The leader began talking louder, and Bokuto could sense the worry in her voice. The mass of mutants began to surge forward at a faster pace, uneasy whispers mixed with the commands of their apparent rescuers swirling between them. They ran up a flight of stairs and through a door before everyone suddenly halted. Fear formed in the pit of Bokuto’s stomach. He stood on his tiptoes, trying to see what had happened.

  
“Erasers,” Kuroo hissed. His ears flattened against his head and his tail fluffed up. Bokuto could hear the first girl shouting back and forth with one of them, then a shout.

  
“Get them out of here!”

  
The group suddenly rushed forward again, this time in a full on sprint. They weaved their way through tunnels for what seemed like ages. Just as Bokuto’s lungs felt like they could take no more the group burst into the open, out into a deserted city street.

  
_We’re outside!_

  
Awe filled every fiber of Bokuto’s being as he looked around. There was so much more space compared to the tiny laboratory which he had been born in. He was out, he was free.

  
A few moments later and the group had started moving again, though Bokuto was no longer sure who was leading them. But he felt a need to stick with the others, no matter what might happen after the night was over.


	2. Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently everyone is a few years younger than they are in the canon series. Maybe 5 years younger? Yeah let's go with that. So the first years would be around 10, the second years 11, the third years 12. I hope Hinata wasn't too ooc or anything?? Also I might have another chapter up later this evening :) Enjoy!

The group of mutants wandered aimlessly through the city, not sure where to go or what to do. None of them had ever been outside the laboratory before, and many of them had little to no knowledge of what to expect of the world. Occasionally one of them would fall over, never to wake up again, too weak to survive outside their tiny cage where they had spent their whole life. It was sad, but the group had no choice but to leave them behind. Sugawara, a silver-haired boy with crow wings, stuck close to his friends Daichi and Asahi, a nervous energy surrounding the three of them.

“We can’t wander around forever,” Suga murmured, glancing at the sky. The horizon was beginning to lighten from black to gray, the first rays of sunlight beginning to hit the Earth. It’s almost certain that they’re searching for us. We need to get someplace hidden. Suga felt a tug on his shirt sleeve. Looking down, he saw a younger mutant with orange hair and big brown eyes. And while Suga recognized him, he didn’t know his name.

“I’m scared,” the younger mutant whimpered, tears in his eyes. He wore a white t-shirt that was much too big for him, stained with various chemicals from the experiments he no doubt had to endure.

Suga ruffled the younger one’s hair. “We’ll be ok, I promise.” The mutant sniffled in response. “What’s your name?” Suga continued.

“Hinata,” he hiccupped.

“Well, Hinata, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Sugawara. But you can call me Suga, if you want.” Hinata smiled weakly, and Suga could only hope that he’d managed to calm the boy’s fears a bit.

“Erasers!”

A shout from the front of the group startled Suga out of his thoughts, fear shooting through him when he realized what had been said. Everyone began scrambling backwards, and Suga grabbed Hinata’s arm to make sure the smaller boy didn’t get lost in the chaos. Laughter sounded from just ahead, the kind of laughter that sent chills down your spine and would show up in your nightmares for years to come.

“This way!” The command came from behind Suga this time, and he turned around to see a boy about his age waving towards an alleyway, urging everyone to run through it.

 _Good idea, the Erasers are too big to fit in there. They’d have to change back to their normal human form to fit._ Suga dragged Hinata, running with the rest of the group to the alleyway that could very well save them. It was a tight squeeze, but somehow the majority of them made it to relative safety. Although judging by the sound of the wolf-men behind them, several mutants had been captured.

“Keep going!” the same boy from before continued urging the others to run. They sprinted down the alleyway, following the twists and turns and hoping that they’d find a way out soon. Hinata was crying again, but Suga was too out of breath to reassure him. The sounds of the Erasers were still behind them, but more distant. _If we just keep running maybe we’ll lose them…_

A cry rang out from the front of the group and everyone came to a screeching halt. Panic started to spread as everyone began to process what had happened.

“A dead end,” Daichi whispered.

“What now?” Hinata whimpered. He looked at Suga then toward the wall. Suga was at a loss. They were trapped.

“Let’s fly out!”

All heads turned to a boy with black and white hair standing smack in the middle of the group. His arms were spread, excitement in his gold eyes. “A lot of us have wings, right? Yeah we’ve never used them but what choice do we have? And we can carry anybody who doesn’t have wings!”

Murmurs spread through the group as the mutants discussed the plan. “There’s no time to think of anything else!” Suga piped up, turning to the side. Carefully, he spread his own wings, dusty black and ten feet long. “If you have wings, start trying to fly! If you don’t, partner up with someone who can carry you!”

The biggest problem was space. Learning to fly was hard enough, but paired up with the fact that there was hardly any room to flap, the feat was near impossible. Then again, the existence of human/animal hybrids was near impossible in its own right. Suga took a deep breath and began flapping his wings as best as he could in the small space. All around him others were doing the same. Hinata was having a little bit more luck since he was smaller, but the process was still taking much too long. They were out of time.

“Found you, little piggies~”

At the other end of the alley the Erasers had arrived. They were currently in their human forms, as their werewolf-like builds were slightly too big to fit in the narrow space. Regardless, they were much bigger than most of the mutants, and they had more numbers. The group began pressing themselves as close to the back wall as they could, whimpers emerging from several of them. Then two boys forced themselves to the front, determined looks on their faces. One of them was the same boy who had led them into the alley.

“Ready, Iwa-chan?” the leader murmured. The other nodded in response. Slowly the two of them began to change in shape. Suga’s eyes grew wide as he watched the transformation. Where two boys had stood only moments before now stood two wolves, one with brown fur, the other with black. They growled menacingly, fur standing on end as they faced their opponents. “Try to get to the roofs of these buildings,” the brown wolf said without turning around. “You should be able to takeoff from there.”

“Pff, are we supposed to be scared?” one of the Erasers laughed. “Two puny wolves with no fighting experience don’t stand a chance against us.” The wolves gave no answer.

Suga felt another tug at his sleeve. He looked down to see Hinata, his eyes surprisingly free from fear and tears. “Suga-san, I can jump really high,” he whispered. Then he pointed up at a fire escape about ten feet above their heads. “I think I can reach that.” Without waiting for a response the orange-haired boy took a running jump and sprung up to latch onto the rusty ladder of the fire escape. At the sight of the new attempted escape, the Erasers leapt into action, or at least, they tried to. The two wolves snarled and bit any of the Erasers who tried to get to the group of mutants. The men shouted angrily and tried to fight back, but they were much more vulnerable when they themselves weren’t currently able to assume their wolf-like forms.

“Everyone up the ladder!” Suga yelled, following Hinata upwards. Most of the other mutants followed suit, but a couple of other boys went to join the two wolves. Sparing a quick glance, Suga was able to see the forms of two more wolves emerge to help defend the ascending group. Hopefully they’ll be able to escape too. Hinata was the first to reach the roof. As soon as he arrived he spread his wings, the jet black crow feathers matching Suga’s almost exactly. He began flapping hard and fast, eyes scrunched up in effort. Suga followed suit. He glanced back to see the last of the mutants reach the roof, the rest of the bird-kids opening up their wings and attempting to fly. Down below he could hear the wolves still trying to keep the Erasers at bay, but by the sound of things, they wouldn’t be able to for much longer.

“Guwaaaah!”

Suga looked over to see that Hinata was now in the air, a grin plastered on his face as he swooped unsteadily back and forth a few feet above the roof. “Suga-san! You need to move! Run and jump!”

 _Run and jump, huh? Worth a shot I guess._ Suga did as Hinata said and soon found himself in the air as well. “Woah! I did it!” Despite the situation they were in, the silver-haired boy couldn’t keep the smile off his face. He had accomplished something he never thought he’d be able to.  All around him the other winged kids slowly figured out how to get in the air as well and were practicing keeping their balance before scooping up those who couldn’t fly. When it looked like everyone was ready Suga called down below to the wolf mutants.

“Get up here! We’re ready to go!”

The wolves scrambled towards the fire escape, changing back into their human forms on the way. The Erasers pursued rapidly, and Suga was worried that they wouldn’t make it. “Daichi! Asahi! Come help me grab them!” The leader had already reached the roof and was picked up by one of the boys with owl wings. Meanwhile the three bird-boys had reached the other three wolf mutants just in the nick of time, hoisting them into the air while the Erasers grasped at air just below their feet.

“Let’s get out of here!” called the boy with black and white hair. Suga called back in agreement, already realizing that carrying a boy the same size as him was going to be no easy feat, especially since he barely knew how to fly. The group turned away from the ocean on the horizon and began to fly inland, all hoping that from here on out, they would be free.


	3. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took awhile and that it's so short! This is pretty much the last chapter to setup the story, so the real fun will start next chapter!
> 
> My update schedule is gonna be a little hectic until I'm done with the semester on Wednesday, so please bear with me until then! Although I'm gonna try and have the next chapter up this weekend at some point.
> 
> As a side note, please imagine Suga carrying Hanamaki under his armpits so he's kinda scrunched up. And Makki just kinda looks around like "WOOOOOOAH, I'M FLYING!! o3o"

They flew for what seemed like hours, arms aching with the added weight of their flightless friends.  The mutants had started out staying well above the clouds to ensure they couldn’t be seen, but by now they had all drifted steadily downward to the point where the clouds were above them once more.  Hinata had partnered up with another bird kid to help carry a cat mutant about the same size as him.  The orange-haired boy looked to his left, curious about the other boy who was helping him with their passenger.  He had black hair and dark blue eyes, and jet black wings, just like a good number of the other bird kids.  Apparently he felt Hinata’s eyes on him because their eyes suddenly met.

“What?” he demanded, scowl on his face.

Hinata flinched, but did his best to hide the twinge of fear he felt.  “Nothing!  I just realized I didn’t know your name, that’s all.”

The scowl remained on the other boy’s face as he answered, “Kageyama.”

“That’s a cool name!”  Despite the compliment, Kageyama just rolled his eyes and turned his face forward again.  Hinata’s heart sank a bit, saddened that he was stuck with a grump until the group decided that it was time to land.  He started looking around, admiring the tiny buildings and trees from the air.  Another surge of excitement shot through him as he once again realized that he was flying, that he wasn’t trapped anymore.

Movement pulled Hinata from his mind, and he looked down to see the cat mutant they were carrying.  He had chin-length black hair and tan cat ears perched atop his head.  The boy looked up and their eyes met.  “My arms hurt,” he complained.

“O-oh, really?” Hinata replied.  _I’m not really surprised_.  “Hopefully we’ll be able to take a break soon-“

“Quit complaining,” Kageyama interrupted.  “Just be glad you’re not stuck in a cage anymore.”

Hinata opened his mouth to yell at the other boy for being insensitive, but Suga and drifted over before he had the chance.  “Don’t worry, I think we’ll be landing soon.  Everyone is starting to look worn out.”

Sure enough, after taking a quick look around Hinata could tell just how tired all the others were.  They’d all been up since late at night and the sun was now high in the sky.  The only thing that had kept them all going was pure adrenaline.  Suga’s passenger, one of the wolf mutants with short brown hair, looked practically asleep.

“Guys, I’m getting tired!  Do you think we should go ahead and land?”  Hinata looked towards the one who had spoken and saw the same boy with black and white hair who had urged them to fly to escape.  His wings were white with black spots, and they matched his hair nicely.

A couple of other voices chimed in agreement, Hinata’s included.  “It’s settled then,” Suga called out.  “Let’s look for a safe place to land.”

Luckily they seemed to have left the big cities behind and finding a secluded area wasn’t too much trouble.  The mutants landed in a small grove of trees, grateful that they wouldn’t have to rest completely out in the open.  “Let’s rest until nightfall,” Daichi suggested.  “It’ll be safer to travel at night.”  Again a chorus of agreement rang out among the kids as they all began to settle down for sleep.  Hinata found a patch of soft grass to lie down in and closed his eyes, falling asleep in just moments.

***

Over the next few weeks the mutants continuing wandering the country, flying back and forth for a few hours a day, desperately trying to find some place they could stay at length.  They dug through garbage to find food and would occasionally stoop to stealing.  They all grew close to each other, relying on the strengths and different talents they all had in order to survive.  Then one day, after searching at length, they came across a place that seemed perfect.

“Uwaaaaah!!”

The place they had stumbled upon was incredibly well hidden, a must for a bunch of genetically altered kids on the run from their creators.  It was located within a valley with stone walls on either side.  There was a stream running directly through the center, lined with trees and foliage.  Caves had formed in the rock walls, providing shelter for them when they needed it.  The best part was that the valley was located fairly close to a small town, so they could obtain food and clothing without too much trouble.

            “I think we should stay here for the time being,” Suga had suggested after the area had been explored.  “We have a source of water and shelter, not to mention we’re well hidden.  I can’t imagine we’d find a better place.”

            It didn’t take long for everyone to come to a consensus, considering they were all tired of running around trying to keep themselves from gaining too much attention.  It was settled, the mutants had found a place to call their own, at least temporarily.  They were free, no longer confined to the cages they had spent the majority of their lives in, and they were now able to grow and cultivate their abilities without anyone taking notes on them.


	4. A New Life

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I enjoyed writing this chapter much more than the last one! In fact this might be the longest chapter so far... In any case, I hope you guys enjoy it! This might be the last update until I get done with the semester on Wednesday, but after that I'll try and have a solid update schedule for you all!

Bokuto soared through the sky, a grin plastered on his face.  His wings easily kept him aloft in the wind, no flapping required.  After all this time he still couldn’t believe that he was out in the open, that he was _free_.  When he was little he was convinced that he’d never have the opportunity to fly around this freely.

            “There you are.”

            Bokuto looked back to see Akaashi glide over to him, his own dark grey wings taking up just slightly less space than Bokuto’s own black and white ones.  “You were looking for me?” the older boy replied.  “I’m touched!”

            Akaashi rolled his eyes but didn’t try to hide the smile that made its way onto his face.  “You just disappeared really quickly today, that’s all.  Normally you stick around base camp for a while before you go flying.”

            “Yeah, I just needed to clear my head a bit.  I’ve been feeling kinda funny for the past few days.”  Bokuto shrugged as well as he could while in the air and turned his face back forward.  “Plus it’s just such a nice day out, I couldn’t resist, y’know?”

            Akaashi nodded, looking out over the clouds.  The sky was bright blue and the air was warm with the late spring heat.  The clouds were sparse and wispy, giving them a view of the mountains and cliffs below.  They weren’t terribly far from their little valley, but far enough away that the other mutants were out of sight.

            “What are the others doing this morning?” Bokuto continued, turning back to his friend.

            “Kuroo roped Kenma and Lev into helping him repair some of the buildings,” the dark haired boy replied.  “Though knowing Kenma, I’m sure it’ll just be Kuroo and Lev doing work by the time we get back to camp.”

            Bokuto laughed loudly, agreeing wholeheartedly.  One of the first orders of business upon the mutants settling in the valley had been to build structures and later on, houses.  By now, five years later, they practically had a little village set up.  It was kind of amazing how they still hadn’t been found by anybody.

            “I think Oikawa and Iwaizumi went out to find food,” Akaashi continued.  “Hinata, Kageyama, and Tsukishima are on laundry duty.  Kiyoko and Yachi are probably working on the gardens.”

            A low whistle passed through Bokuto’s lips.  “Sounds like everyone’s pretty busy today.  Now I kinda feel bad for taking off without asking if anybody needed my help.”

            “Glad to know you can feel guilt.”

            “Hey!”

            The two continued on in silence for awhile, merely enjoying each other’s company.  But of course Bokuto wasn’t good at being quiet for very long, so he was the first to break the silence.  “I guess we should probably head back.  I don’t want anyone to yell at me for ditching out on all the work.”

            “So you don’t feel guilty, you just don’t want to be yelled at.”

            “Akaashi, you’re making me sound like a bad guy.”

            When the two arrived back at camp they found it bustling with activity.  Kuroo had a hammer out and was pounding away on the roof of a slightly ramshackle hut.  The building looked worse for wear, but Lev had out a paint can and brush, humming while he coated the wood in white paint.  It wasn’t the best paint job in the world, but the hut looked better with the pigment than without it. Kenma sat underneath a pine tree nearby, playing a video game he spent nearly a year saving up for by doing odd jobs in town.  His lion tail twitched back and forth while he concentrated on the screen.

            In the center of the village Hinata was splashing in the stream, feet bare and a soaked shirt in his hand.  He was whipping it around, splashing Kageyama and Tsukishima who were both yelling at him to cut it out before they killed him.  A little ways off Yamaguchi was begging for the three to behave and actually wash the clothes, but he went ignored.  A short ways away was the main garden, which Kiyoko and Yachi were happily tending.  They had worn out gardening gloves on and dirt smeared on their arms and legs.  Seed packets were strewn about them along with a couple of tools for digging. 

            “Oh, you guys are back!”

            Bokuto and Akaashi were greeted by Yaku, his orange and black striped tail waving behind him as if to say hello.  “I was wondering if you both ditched so you could slack off all day.”

            “Bokuto would have, if I hadn’t guilt-tripped him into coming back,” Akaashi side-eyed his older friend.

            “T-that’s not true!  Honest!”

            “Sure it isn’t.”

            “Well now that you guys are here, maybe you could help Lev paint the tool shed?” Yaku continued, throwing his thumb back to point at the current project.  “I’m worried he’ll screw it up if he has to do it all by himself.”

            “Sure thing, Yaku!  We’ll get the job done in no time.”  Bokuto gave a thumbs up and ran over to the two cat mutants, eager to help out.  Akaashi followed him at a slower pace.

            _Bang!_   “OW! SON OF A-“

            “Woah, watch your language, bro!”

            Kuroo, who had been nailing boards to the roof of the shed, had accidentally hit his black tail instead of the nail.  He held his appendage in both of his hands, tears streaming from his eyes as he examined it for damage.  His ears were flattened back against his head and the hammer had been discarded on the ground.

            “Are you alright, Kuroo-senpai?” Lev asked, picking up the hammer.  His own white spotted tail twitched back and forth, revealing slight amusement.  “You should be more careful!”

            “Shut up, Lev.”  He snatched the hammer from the younger boy’s grasp, eyes narrowed.  He then turned his attention to Akaashi and Bokuto, the latter who had called out to him for his near foul language.  “I can say whatever the hell I want, Bokuto!”

            “You forget, there are children around!” Bokuto tutted, gesturing to Akaashi and Kenma. 

            “I’m not a child, Bokuto,” Akaashi replied.  He now had a paint brush in hand, ready to begin work.

            “Anyone younger than me is considered a child!” Bokuto exclaimed, picking up a brush of his own.  “No but seriously, your tail alright, Kuroo?”

            “Yeah, it’s fine.”  Kuroo was once again focused on repairing the roof, not even bothering to look back at his friend.  “It just hurt like crazy, that’s all.”

            “Good to hear.”  Bokuto stepped back from the side of the shed, admiring his handiwork.  He had painted an owl, though it was slightly misshapen and could easily be mistaken for any other bird.  Akaashi came around, took one look at the drawing, and promptly covered it up with more paint.  “Akaashi, why’d you do that?!”

            “Because we’re supposed to cover the entire shed in paint, Bokuto.”

            “But you ruined my masterpiece!”

            “I’m sorry to say that your drawing didn’t look like anything particularly special.”

            “I’m hurt!”

            “Yahoo, we’re back!~”

            Oikawa and Iwaizumi had returned to camp, arms loaded up with plastic grocery bags.  It didn’t take the two of them longer than half an hour to run to town while they were in wolf form, but it took them over an hour to carry everything back while remaining in their human forms.  The two boys were covered in sweat, but they had smiles on their faces, glad that they had gotten the shopping done for the week. 

            “Food!”  Hinata abandoned his washing in the stream, leaving Kageyama to dive after it to ensure the clothes didn’t float away, yelling the entire time.  The enthusiastic boy ran over to the wolf mutants, eager to get his hands on something to eat.

            “Woah, patience, shorty!  We all have to eat together, you know~”

            Ignoring Oikawa’s reprimand, Iwaizumi handed Hinata a package of Skittles from his pocket. 

“Waah, thanks, Iwaizumi!”  Hinata’s eyes glittered as he looked at the colorful packaging, mouth practically watering at the sight.  He ran off to gloat to his friends, exclaiming that he got candy and they didn’t. 

“Iwa-chan, how could you?”  Oikawa pouted.  Iwaizumi just shrugged.

“He’s seemed under the weather lately, so I got him a treat.”

“I didn’t know Iwaizumi had a soft side,” Hanamaki commented as he approached his fellow wolf mutants.  He grabbed a couple of bags from Oikawa to lighten the load.

“Shut up,” Iwaizumi replied.  He carried the bags into a short building, created for the sole purpose of storing their food. 

“Hmm, now that Iwa-chan mentions it… A couple of people have seemed a little off lately,” Oikawa mused.  “I wonder if they’re getting sick…?”

“Who knows,” Hanamaki shrugged.  “As long as nobody dies, it doesn’t really matter, does it?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”  


	5. Sickness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long guys! I've been recovering from college and we actually went on a sudden trip to Montana soooo... Also sorry this is kind of short, I'm still working out a couple of things so I'm a little unsure of what exactly to write that will be relevant for all the plots I have in mind. Also I'm gonna try to update twice a week from here on out, every tuesday and friday! 
> 
> Thanks for the support you've given so far, enjoy!

            Hinata woke up that night with a raging headache and nausea.  The small boy tossed and turned in his makeshift bed, groaning and clutching his stomach.  Ultimately he rolled out and curled into a ball on the floor of his little cave, tears gathering at the corners of his eyes.  He tried to form a coherent thought but his head hurt too bad to do so.  Luckily Kageyama’s cave was right above his and the black-haired boy was awoken by the cries of his friend.

            “Oi!  What’s wrong?”  Kageyama peeked his head down to look into the cave below his, worry and fatigue tinting his voice.  Hinata was unable to answer in words, instead opting to use more groans and whimpers to convey the amount of pain he was in.  It was at this point that Tobio began to panic.  The mutants very rarely got sick and when they did the sickness wasn’t usually anything worse than a cold.  Needless to say, Kageyama was at a complete loss of what to do in the current situation.

            “What’s going on?”  Kenma’s sensitive ears had picked up the commotion from a short ways below and had come to find out what had awoken him from his sleep.  He rubbed his eyes sleepily with one hand while hanging tight to the ladder in his other.  Similarly, Daichi and Suga came down from their cave to see what was going on. 

            “Something’s wrong with Hinata,” Kageyama said as soon as Daichi and Suga appeared.  “I think he’s sick.”

            Suga wordlessly crossed the cavern to kneel by Hinata, concern etched on all his features.  Kenma watched nervously from the mouth of the cave and Daichi put a hand on Kageyama’s shoulder.  Suga gently pressed a hand to Hinata’s forehead to find it hot to the touch and his worry increased significantly.  All the while the orange-haired boy had continued to groan and shiver, tears now streaming down his face.  “He’s burning up,” Suga finally said, standing up.  “We may need to take him to a doctor.”

            “Are you crazy?  We can’t do that.  They’d see his wings!” Daichi protested. 

            “The risk would be worth it,” Suga insisted.  “I’d rather have to escape from a normal hospital than have Hinata die on us because we couldn’t take care of him.”

            The two continued arguing back and forth, weighing the pros and cons of taking Hinata to the hospital in the nearby town.  Meanwhile, Kageyama had ventured closer to the slightly older boy.  Fear had overtaken the black-haired boy, and he reached out to take Hinata’s hand in his.  _Please be okay…_

            Hinata managed to give his friend’s hand a squeeze and cracked one eye open slightly.  “I-I’m okay, Kageyama-kun. It just hurts really bad, t-that’s all.”  He winced as he finished the sentence, several more tears escaping from his eyes.  “I think I’m s-starting to feel a little better…”

            “You should try and get some more sleep,” Kageyama instructed.  “I always feel better after I sleep.”

            “I’ll try…”  The truth was, Hinata was in fact starting to feel a little bit better.  His nausea was all but cleared up, and his headache had dulled to just a small throb.  The boy shakily stood to his feet, aided by Kageyama, and crawled back into his bed made of hay and blankets.  Suga and Daichi watched from the cave entrance, conversation ceased.  Tobio pulled Hinata’s blankets over his still shivering body before sitting down on the floor, determined to stay by the sick boy’s side for the rest of the night. 

            “Kageyama, come and get us if Hinata gets worse again,” Suga murmured.  Kageyama nodded in response, not bothering to look back as the other three left the cave.  Hinata’s breathing gradually grew even and quiet, giving the black-haired boy a small sense of relief.  Slowly but surely he too fell asleep, leaning against the stone wall at Hinata’s bedside.

            When he awoke it was daytime, or at least, that’s what he thought.  Kageyama’s dark eyes opened slowly, squinting has he adjusted to the bright light.  After several moments he was able to more or less have them completely open, and he noticed something odd.  The sudden bright light wasn’t coming from the cave opening, but from Hinata’s bed.

            As it turns out, Hinata Shouyou was glowing, literally.


	6. He Glows!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clearly I'm bad with schedules. I'm trying to get better at posting regularly, I promise <3
> 
> Another shorter chapter, but I know exactly where I'm heading from here on out so hopefully the chapters will start getting longer! I should have another chapter up on Friday, as planned :) Enjoy!

Hinata was awoken from his more or less peaceful slumber by Kageyama’s sudden gasp.  The orange-haired boy slowly opened his eyes, wincing at the brightness that was surrounding him.  “Is it morning already…?” he asked as he slowly sat up.

“Hinata, you should probably look at yourself.”

“Huh?  Why?”  But Hinata glanced down without waiting for an actual answer.  It took him several moments to process what he was seeing.  “…WOAH!!!!”  Despite being sick as a dog just hours ago Hinata was now filled with energy at the sight of himself emanating a warm glow.  He stretched his arm out in front of him, eyes glittering as he examined the appendage.  Kageyama watched as his friend took in the sight of this odd phenomenon, eventually getting to the point where he jumped out of bed so he could check if his legs glowed as well.  The black-haired boy was just as surprised as Hinata was, of course, but he certainly couldn’t say that he didn’t find the situation humorous.  He only decided that it was time to interrupt when Hinata felt the need to look inside his pants to see if he really glowed _everywhere_.

“Maybe we should tell the others about this?” the taller boy interrupted after clearing his throat.  “Daichi, Suga, and Kenma were pretty worried about you, after all.”

“Ooooh yeah that’s a good idea!”

The two boys flew up to the top of the cliff to where Daichi and Suga’s cave was, Hinata squawking the entire time about his new ability.  “I wonder how I turn myself off?  Am I just going to glow forever?  I think I’d stand out a bit if I never stopped glowing-“

“Shut up, will you?” Kageyama huffed.  “Alright, we’re here.”

Daichi and Suga had begun sharing a cave not long after the mutants had settled in their little valley.  The two boys had always been close since they were some of the first successful experiments and had often been forced to undergo further experimentation together.  At this point in time they were practically inseparable, and a lot of the younger mutants jokingly referred to them as the mom and dad of their odd group.  The two younger boys entered the cavern quietly, not wanting to startle their friends.  Hinata’s light slowly but surely awoke them, Suga being the first to sit up and rub his eyes.  He blinked sleepily and stretched his arms overhead, apparently also believing it to be morning.  Of course, as soon as his eyes adjusted and he saw Hinata, he gasped loudly.

“Wha- Why is Hinata glowing??” the silver-haired boy questioned, mouth agape.  Daichi was awoken by the commotion and allowed his eyes to adjust to the lighting before also joining in on the confusion.

“I woke up and he was just… Glowing,” Kageyama said.  “He doesn’t know how it happened either.”

“I’m feeling much better now though!” the orange-haired boy shouted.  “I wonder if I was feeling sick because my body was trying to deal with the glowy stuff?  This is weird.  I don’t know how to stop lighting up…”

Hinata continued to ramble to himself while the other three discussed possibilities.  Considering the fact that they were mutants it shouldn’t be all that surprising if they mutated further, their very existence was a mystery in and of itself.  But even for the successful lab experiments, this new ability of Hinata’s was strange indeed. 

“Oh!”

The light faded from the room as Hinata stopped glowing.  The other boys turned to look at him, now squinting in the darkness.  Hinata had his hands pressed together firmly, an excited look on his face.  “I turned myself off!  I just pressed my hands together!”  Before anyone else could respond he separated his hands before once again pressing them tightly together.  After just a few moments he began to light up again, his grin now clearly visible.  “Look!  I’m like a flashlight!”

Needless to say, the other three were dumbfounded.  By now, Kenma had awoken from his bed near the bottom of the cliff and had climbed up to see what was going on this time.  As his blond head and ears peeked in his eyes widened, tail twitching in curiosity.  “Why is Shouyou glowing?”

“No clue,” Kageyama replied, shaking his head.  “But no doubt it’s an after-effect of his illness earlier.”

“I wonder if that’s why some of us have been feeling under the weather lately?” Daichi questioned.  “Are some of us developing new abilities?”

“I don’t want to glow…” Kenma interjected.  “It’d make me stand out too much…”

Nobody really had a reply to that.  Silence enveloped the sleepy little group for awhile, all of them entranced and amused while Hinata played with his new power.  The sun started to come up, signaling the start of a new day.

“Well, we should probably hold a meeting so everyone knows about… whatever this is,” Suga suggested.  “There’s a pretty good chance that some of the rest of us will start changing in other ways, so we should be prepared.”  Everyone was in agreement, so they headed down to ground level to round up the others and discuss the latest development.


	7. Supermutants

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SORRY I DIDN'T POST THIS YESTERDAY!!! I went to see Jurassic World and after that there was basically no way I could write about anything other than dinosaurs.
> 
> I'm shipper trash, so enjoy more new abilities and some Daisuga fluff.

            It was good that all the other mutants were quickly informed of Hinata’s odd sickness and new ability, because the very next afternoon Iwaizumi was struck down with a headache and chills.  Oikawa was worried sick and tried his best to help but Iwaizumi just chased him off, grumbling that he’d be fine and just needed rest.  Despite the reassurance the brunet had waited at the mouth of the cave for hours until the black-haired boy finally emerged, stating that he was feeling better but overall not any different.  Another meeting was promptly called to discuss this and try to figure out if Iwaizumi had suddenly sprouted new appendages or even if his skin was a slightly different shade.

            After half an hour of poking, prodding, and questioning the wolf mutant they determined that either nothing had happened or his new ability was not as obvious as Hinata’s was.  Inwardly Iwaizumi was relieved that nothing incredibly weird had happened to him, he’d die of embarrassment if he lit up like a Christmas tree every time he kept his hands together for too long.  But he was also disappointed, wondering if maybe nothing special had happened to him after all.

            However he discovered his ability two days later.  A storm had hit in the middle of the night and one of the trees had been knocked into the stream, effectively blocking the water and creating a dam.  Everyone was working together to try and figure out how to remove it, and they eventually decided to go ahead and try to all lift it at the same time.  Iwaizumi was rather surprised when he began lifting and he found the tree wasn’t heavy at all.  The others we equally surprised when he lifted the entire tree up by himself and carried it off to the side, placing it down gently.  “Iwa-chan, you’re so cool, you have super strength!”

            Iwaizumi was unable to hide his grin at the words of praise from his best friend.

            The next one to be struck down was Kenma, who gained the ability to fit into incredibly tight spaces.  He discovered this after he was being chased around playfully by Kuroo and he managed to squeeze under the gap between the door and the floor of the storage shed. 

            Suga discovered that he could control minds to a minor degree.  All he had to do was focus on the person he wanted to control and think hard about what he wanted them to do.  The ability was very draining, but he discovered that with more practice he was able to perform more complex commands and use the ability for longer.

            Bokuto learned about his power after nearly starting a forest fire.  It turned out that he had the ability to call down lighting, as long as there were storm clouds in the area.  He nearly peed his pants when a lightning bolt struck right where he happened to be pointing.

            Noya gained super speed, which was probably the last thing a hyper boy needed.  Tanaka was pretty surprised when he and Noya were racing and the shorter boy disappeared just moments after Hinata had called out “go!”

            The last person to gain an ability for a good long while was Kiyoko, who found that she could see thermal energy when she willed herself to do so.  Many of the others were relieved that she hadn’t gained x-ray vision instead.

            All these abilities were gained within just a few short weeks, and for awhile it looked like everyone was going to get a power sooner rather than later.  However after the black-haired girl gained her improved vision nobody else suddenly fell ill.  Disappointment took hold of most of the others, though Daichi tried to assure everyone that it was more than likely that they’d gain some sort of power later on, they’d just need to be patient. 

            “Patience isn’t going to let me win a race against Noya, now is it?” Tanaka asked bitterly. 

            “Iwa-chan is cooler than me now!” Oikawa wailed.  “How can my dashing good looks beat his incredible strength?  Everyone knows girls love strong guys!”

            “We live in a forest, idiot.  There aren’t any girls here for you to attract.  Yachi and Kiyoko already know better than to get involved with you,” Iwaizumi pointed out.

            “SHUT UP!”

            Daichi rubbed his temples in frustration.  He had called a meeting after realizing that it was unlikely that any more powers were going to develop anytime soon, but this was just a disaster.  Everyone was arguing, complaints were being shouted at the sky, and he wouldn’t really be surprised if a fight broke out because tensions were high.  Suga came up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder in comfort.  “Maybe this wasn’t the best idea, huh?”

            “You’re telling me,” Daichi sighed.  “I think I need to go clear my head.”

            “Mind if I join you?” Suga asked. 

            “Not at all.”

            Without another word both boys spread their wings and took off, leaving the arguing crowd behind them.  After they were in the air and all was quiet Daichi allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief.

            “Better?”

            “Yeah, much better.”

            The two boys flew in silence for a while, simply enjoying each other’s company.  They rode on the air currents, rarely needing to flap their wings to keep aloft.  The sky was dotted with fluffy clouds and the ground was rich with greens and blues on the beautiful summer day.  Suga drifted slightly closer to Daichi, allowing their wingtips to touch just slightly.  In addition he flashed a warm smile, the kind that sent Daichi’s heart racing whenever he saw it.  The dark-haired boy couldn’t hide the light blush that dusted his cheeks, and instead decided to turn his face away.  Suga giggled quietly.

            “You’re so cute when you’re embarrassed, Daichi.”

            “Oh hush.”

            Suga giggled once more before falling quiet again, heart light and happy.  Both boys knew that they could spend hours like that, just flying around, keeping each other company.  But they knew there were still things to be done, so when Daichi said that it was probably time to head back, Suga made no move to disagree, even though he desperately wanted to.


	8. Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Video games have consumed my life. Damn you, Steam Sale.
> 
> So, how about the new Max Ride book? I'm only like, 20 chapters in and I'm already pretty disappointed. You had ONE JOB James Patterson, ONE JOB.
> 
> Fang is still amazing, Angel should be renamed Devil.
> 
> Hopefully I'll get bored with video games and ranting at this book soon so I can actually get off my lazy ass and write some more. Thanks for the support so far! Enjoy guys!~

            Ultimately, things settled down and life returned to more or less normal for the group of mutants.  While several of them still occasionally voiced complaints about not getting powers things never again got out of hand like they had after abilities suddenly stopped developing.  Like Daichi had said, there was always the possibility of more powers developing later on.  With that hope in mind those without abilities continued on with their day to day life; working on their ramshackle buildings, clearing area to make room for gardens, and going to town to do odd jobs so they could buy the things they couldn’t make themselves.  Life was peaceful, just as it had always been since they had escaped five years ago.

            Naturally, this just turned out to be the calm before the storm, literally.

            About two months after the sudden mutations had stopped powerful storms began to sweep across the nation, flooding many places and even causing some fires due to lightning.  The mutants wound up staying indoors and hoping for the best for the most part, but there was nothing they could do once the surrounding forest suddenly caught fire one night. 

            Oikawa awoke with a start, smoke filling his nostrils and throat.  He coughed loudly, waving his hand in front of his face in hopes of dispersing the fumes.  When that didn’t work he peeked out of the cave he and Iwaizumi shared, searching for the source of the smoke.  The sight that awaited him was not a pleasant one, not 20 feet away from the cave entrance a fire was burning, and was rapidly moving to engulf the rest of the little valley.  The brown-haired boy darted back into the cave and shook his companion awake, much more afraid of the fire than Iwaizumi’s wrath at being awoken from a peaceful sleep.

            “What the hell?” Iwaizumi grumbled, cracking one eye open to glare at Oikawa.  “This had better be-…  Is that smoke?”

            “There’s a fire outside!” Oikawa said hurriedly.  “We have to wake everyone up!”  The two wasted no time in rushing outside, shouting all the while.  The smoke was already thick, blotting out the stars in the night sky above.  Kuroo and Lev were the first to be awoken, emerging from their separate caves coughing and spluttering.  Kiyoko and Yachi were next, peeking down from their cave near the top of the cliff only to be greeted by a wall of smoke.  Before long all of the mutants on the left side of the stream were awake, but none of them could tell what was happening on the opposite side.  The fire and smoke effectively cut both sides of the valley off from one another and there was no way around, even for those with wings.  Flying was too dangerous with all the smoke, and the flames were reaching higher and higher as they fed on foliage.

            “I can’t see over!” Bokuto shouted to those on the ground from his position in the sky.  He had attempted to peer over the wall of smoke, but to no avail.  He lowered himself back to earth, sweat shining on his forehead.  “Guys, if we don’t leave soon, we’re gonna be cooked.”

            “But what about the others?” Yachi asked worriedly.  “What if they’re not awake?”

            “You’d have to be dead to not notice the heat and smoke,” Lev said.  “They’re probably awake, they’ll be fine!”

            Kuroo nodded in agreement.  “Right now what’s most important is getting out of here safely.  We’ll have to meet up with everyone else later.”

            They all reluctantly agreed that they needed to leave, even though doing so seemed like a death sentence to everyone, regardless of the fact that they were currently alive.  The fire was going to destroy everything they had spent the past five years working on, they’d have to start over again, completely from scratch.  Even with that knowledge in mind they moved forward.

***

            On the opposite side of the valley everyone had already left, trusting that the others would do the same.  Hinata lit the way through the darkened forest, tears threatening to spill down his cheeks as he thought about all they had lost.  But he stayed brave, knowing that it was important that he stayed focus and provided light for his group.  Kageyama was to his side, Daichi and Suga were just behind him.  Near the back of the group Kenma clutched his handheld game, relieved that he was able to save his most valuable possession from the flames.  Akaashi and Yaku walked side by side, both completely silent.

            “How will we find the others?” Yamaguchi eventually spoke up, breaking the tense silence. 

            “We’ll search from them from the air after we’re safe from the fire,” Daichi replied, glancing back.  “Other than that, there’s not much else we can do but hope.”

            “Well that certainly sounds promising,” Tsukishima muttered.

            Hearing the pessimism from the others was just enough to send Hinata into tears, though they were silent.  The orange-haired boy desperately tried to stop himself, but his sniffling gave his condition away, and Kageyama reached over to ruffle his hair.  “Crying won’t solve anything,” he said quietly.  “Hang in there.”

            Hinata nodded and reached up to scrub his cheeks with his forearm.  _I need to stay brave, we can’t give up now._

***

            “How’s it look up there?” Kuroo called.  Up above Kiyoko was surveying the surrounding area, trying to find a safe place to flee to.  So far their group had been incredibly unlucky, running into fire no matter which way they turned.  They were rapidly running out of options.

            Kiyoko landed before giving her report.  “If we head North away from town the area is clear, but it looks like the fire is starting to spread that way.  We have to hurry or we’ll be trapped.”

            “Let’s get going then,” Iwaizumi said, taking the lead.


	9. Erasers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long everyone! The past week and a half have been hectic, having to drive back and forth between my parents' houses and such. 
> 
> I've decided that from here on out this fic will update every Friday (this one is for last Friday, I'll update again this week) and my new fic, one that's a Tokyo Ghoul au, will update on Tuesdays! Thank you for your support so far, and I hope you enjoy!

            The fire blazed for days on end, pushing the two separate groups of mutants further and further from each other.  Not only that but they were homeless once again, once again vulnerable to the world and people who may or may not still be looking for them.

            Hinata blinked tiredly as he and his group emerged from the forest, dull eyes scanning the plains that lie ahead of them.  He had been lighting the way for everyone for the past two days running on very little sleep.  More than once Kageyama had had to stop him from falling over and passing out.  Now that they were out in daylight Hinata pressed his hands together to stop glowing, grateful that the ability would no longer sap his energy reserves.  Daichi and Suga took up the lead, eyes taking in every inch of the area around them.  The plain was a mix of greens and browns with very little shelter in sight.  There were no trees other than the forest behind them, and only a handful of large rocks dotted the sea of tall grass.

            “We’ll be exposed if we spend the evening here,” Suga muttered.

            “We might not have a choice,” Daichi sighed.  “We’re all exhausted, I doubt we can go much further than this today.”  Almost as if to prove this point Hinata once again swayed on his feet and promptly fell over face first into the dirt.  Nobody was close enough to him to catch him.  Suga quickly walked over to their fallen companion and hoisted him up, helping him stand by slinging one of the red-head’s arms over his shoulders.

            “I guess we should settle down near one of the bigger rocks then,” Suga suggested, nodding towards a boulder several hundred feet away.  “That’s better than being completely out in the open.”  Daichi nodded and began leading the way, the others dragging their feet slowly behind him.  By the time they reached the boulder everyone practically collapsed, eyes heavy and feet like lead.  Nobody offered to stay up and keep watch, none of them would be able to stay awake for that anyway.  And so the exhausted mutants fell into a much needed deep sleep, and stayed like that well into the night.

***

            What awoke them was the sound of a muffled screech. 

            Daichi and Suga were the first on their feet, rapidly followed by the others.  The moon was high in the sky, bathing the area in a silvery light.  Daichi quickly conducted a head count, heart pounding ever harder once he realized someone was missing.

            “Where’s Yamaguchi?” Tsukishima asked, attempting to mask the worry that threatened to taint his voice.  In response to the question Yaku hopped up onto the boulder, orange-striped tail twitching as he searched the area surrounding them.  His better than average night-vision caught a glimpse of eyes shining not too far away, gaze fixed on their group.

            “There’s something out there!” he hissed, ears pressing to his head.  He pointed in the direction of the eyes and everyone turned, squinting into the night.  Moments later they were attacked from behind.

            Yaku was tackled from his perch atop the rock, his breath leaving him in a _whoosh_ of air.  He felt claws pressing into his back and foul breath wafted into his nose.  Those two things plus the growls and cruel laughter ringing around them could only mean one thing. 

            “ERASERS!” Suga shrieked.

            The Erasers were wolf-human hybrids that were less perfected than the wolf mutants the others were familiar with.  They were big and bulky, more like werewolves than actual wolves.  They had a very short lifespan as well, most of them were only between four and seven years old.  The sole purpose of the Erasers was to do the dirty work of their creators, and this usually meant capturing or killing any other mutants that happened to escape.

            Yaku struggled against his attacker, tail waving around frantically as he desperately tried to land a hit on the much larger mutant.  Not far in front of him was Kenma, tan ears pressed tightly against his head and lion’s tail fluffed up in fear.  An Eraser had him backed up against another rock, laughter rumbling from deep in its throat.  But before the beast was able to do any harm Hinata had launched himself at it, using all the force in his body to knock the Eraser to the side and draw its attention away from Kenma.  “Over here, you jerk!”  Hinata spread his wings and jumped into the air, just out of range of the Eraser’s sharp claws.  Kenma took the opportunity to hop up onto the rock he had been cornered against, hoping to at least stay out of the way for a short while.

            Daichi and Suga fought back to back, fire in their eyes as they did battle with several Erasers at once.  Hanamaki rushed to Yaku’s aid, morphing into his wolf form to latch his sharp teeth into the scruff of the Eraser’s neck.  After successfully pulling the brute off of Yaku the shorter boy turned in an attempt to gouge its eyes out.  Kageyama and Tsukishima flew around the area, calling out in an attempt to find where Yamaguchi had been taken.  Then they saw two shapes moving toward the edge of the forest, one clearly an Eraser and the other much smaller.

            “Come on!” Kageyama shouted, diving towards them.  Tsukishima followed wordlessly.  Kageyama tackled the Eraser from the air, arms wrapping around its neck.  Tsukishima landed and pulled Yamaguchi to his feet before turning to help battle their enemy.  After being significantly outnumbered the Eraser growled and batted the three mutants away, rushing into the woods as soon as it was free.  The bird kids panted, sweat beading on their foreheads.

            “Thanks guys…” Yamaguchi murmured, shivering slightly.  Being hauled away by that Eraser had been enough to terrify him.  The last thing any of them wanted was to go back to a lab, to once again be deprived of their freedom and subjected to cruel tests.

            “Of course,” Tsukishima replied.  His eyes revealed his relief even though his tone did not.  “We should go back to the others and help them fend off the rest of the Erasers.”

            “Agreed,” Kageyama said as he spread his wings and launched into the air.


	10. Captive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW, I'M ACTUALLY ON TIME FOR AN UPDATE! Hell yes.
> 
> Thanks for the support so far everyone! Your comments mean so much to me ;w; For those of you living in the USA I hope you have a fantastic 4th of July weekend! To everyone else, I hope you just have a fantastic weekend in general. Without further ado, here's the new chapter!

            The Erasers were outnumbered, so despite the surprise attack the mutants were able to chase off the ambush.  Hinata had flopped on the ground, face covered in dirt, sweat, and blood.  His mouth hung open so he could gulp in air.  Kenma had remained on top of the rock he had fled to during the battle, eyes wide as he nervously looked around the plains.  Yaku was examining the cuts he had gained from his battle, wincing every so often.  After Daichi had caught his breath he decided to do another headcount, just to be safe.  When he finished with one person missing he was convinced he had simply miscounted.  After all, Yamaguchi had been rescued.  So he re-counted, only to get the same result.  But before he could question the others if someone had wandered off Tsukishima spoke up.

            “…where’s Akaashi?”

            Everyone froze for a moment, then began looking around.  Soon Akaashi’s name rang around the area, but the boy in question never once responded.  The longer time dragged on the higher the level of panic rose among the group.  Suga leapt into the air and spread his wings, allowing the slight breeze to help him rise higher and higher.  His eyes scanned desperately around but found nothing.  Nobody other than their group remained in the giant field.

            ***

            “Bokuto, look out!”

            A flaming branch fell to the ground, nearly clocking Bokuto over the head in the process.  Kuroo had just barely managed to yank his friend out of the way in time.  Unlike the other group, the other half of the mutants were still trapped in the forest, unable to escape from the fire.  They had been moving non-stop, the only thing keeping them going was pure adrenaline.  Soot and ash covered their faces, hands, and clothes.  The only reason the smoke hadn’t killed them was because it was continuously rising.  If they didn’t find a way out soon, they wouldn’t make it out at all.

            “Thanks, man,” Bokuto said, looking at Kuroo gratefully.  Kuroo only nodded in response.

            “I can see the edge of the forest!” Yachi called down from her position in the air.  “The fire is spreading that way but if we hurry we can get out!”  The small girl landed and began to lead the way.  The others followed wordlessly, too tired to speak.  Yachi ducked under fallen trees and around burning foliage, sweat rolling down from her temples.  Her ponytail bounced up and down behind her as she ran, eyes constantly looking back and forth to keep an eye out for danger.  Near the back of the group Iwaizumi and Oikawa were in their wolf forms to keep everyone safe from dangers other than fire.  Their fur was filthy and occasionally matted with blood from a scrape or cut.

            “There!” Lev called out when he spotted the line of trees finally end.  The speed of the entire group picked up, relief obvious on their faces.  They managed to emerge from the forest without further incident, though just minutes after they had escaped the flames engulfed the area they had come from. 

            “We made it,” Noya panted.  Though he normally had energy to spare, the dark circles under his eyes betrayed how exhausted he was.

            “Let’s get a little further away from the forest,” Kuroo said.  “The last thing we need is to be cooked in our sleep.”

            ***

            Akaashi woke up to darkness.  He blinked several times, though nothing changed.  After his mind cleared a bit he decided that he was probably blindfolded, judging from the fact that his wrists were tied behind his back and a rope had been tied around him multiple times to keep his wings in place.  He shifted back and forth, trying to see if there was any way he could get himself free.

            “Ah, you’re awake, I see.”

            Akaashi turned his head toward the voice, which was feminine in nature.  “Where am I?” he asked, managing to keep his voice calm.  There was no point in panicking just yet, he needed to keep a clear head if he wanted to find a way out of this situation. 

            “Wouldn’t _you_ like to know?” The voice replied, a small giggle ending the question.  “The only thing you need to know is that you’re trapped, and that you won’t be leaving this place any time soon, if ever.”

            Akaashi frowned, a surge of panic threatening to overtake his calm demeanor.  _Please, not this again.  I don’t want to be trapped, I don’t want to be tested on-_   He managed to once again force his worrisome thoughts down and continued the conversation.  “What do you want with me?”

            “You’re a very valuable experiment, dear.  We need as many of you as we can get our hands on.  It’s a shame those Erasers were only able to catch you, in the end.  Though hopefully some more of your friends will be joining us very soon!”  Before Akaashi could respond to this new information he heard the sound of a door opening to the side, and several pairs of feet coming towards him.  “Oh, just in time.  He’s all yours, guys.  Try not to bang him up too much, alright?  I want to do some flight tests on him later.”

            The voice didn’t get a response from these new people, but Akaashi felt himself being lifted up into the air despite the fact that there were no hands holding onto him.  That could mean only one thing.  _Oh God, I’m in a cage.  No, please no._   That realization was finally enough to make him lose his composure, and he began shouting at his captors, demanding that they let him go.


	11. Tiny Fans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY I DISAPPEARED EVERYONE! I've been sick both emotionally and physically for the past month, but I'm better now! I'll try and start updating as frequently as I can... Unfortunately I start college again in 11 days so I won't really be able to have an updating schedule, but I'll write whenever I'm able!
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

            “Dammit, dammit, DAMMIT!”  Yaku picked up a stick he found on the ground and hurled it as far as he could, turning away before he could watch it land.  “How did none of us notice them take Akaashi?!  How did we let this happen?!”

            “They must have grabbed him and kept him quiet while the rest of us were fighting,” Daichi said.  “We need to go, they can’t have gotten far.”

            Despite how tired the mutants were from their fight they didn’t complain.  Having a friend captured by Erasers was a worst case scenario, and they couldn’t afford to waste time catching their breath.  Without another word the bird kids launched themselves into the air while the cat kids began moving forward on the ground, eyes constantly scanning the surrounding area.      Suga and Daichi started circling the area, allowing the circumference of their circle to grow steadily wider as they searched.  Kageyama and Hinata flew back and forth across the plains, calling out to their friend every so often.  Yaku and Kenma raced through the grass, ears strained towards even the smallest sounds.  After 10 minutes of searching the immediate area the bird kids returned to the ground, faces grim.

            “We need to look further away,” Suga said.  “They’ve covered more ground than we thought.”

            “Suga… How far can we get when we’re exhausted?” Tsukki asked.  “And even if we do find them, could we even fight hard enough to rescue Akaashi?”

            “So you’re saying we should just let them take him?” Hinata spat.  “We can’t just leave him!  He’s our friend!”

            “But Tsukki’s right… we’re all tired,” Yamaguchi said quietly.  “We might not be able to cover enough ground to even find him.”

            The group was silent, minds mulling over their options.  Tsukishima was right, they were worn out from the past few days and probably wouldn’t be able to get very far before needing to rest.  But on the other hand their friend was in trouble, and leaving him just didn’t seem right, even if there wasn’t much they could do.

            “…we’ll rest for a few hours, they we need to get going,” Daichi finally said.  “We’ll find Akaashi, but we can’t help him if we’re exhausted.”

            Yaku snorted but made no move to argue, opting to instead lay down in the grass and force his eyes shut.  One by one all of the others followed his lead, mostly reluctantly.  The mutants eventually fell into a fitful sleep, filled with nightmares about the horrors they had thought they left behind years ago.

            ***

            The other group of mutants was sprawled on the grass a short ways away from a river, snores filling the still night air as they rested for the first time in days.  Kiyoko and Yachi were curled up together, faces covered in soot and smoke.  Lev had attempted to use a rock as a pillow, but ultimately gave the idea up after realizing that rocks were not even remotely soft.  Kuroo on the other hand was very successfully using Bokuto’s stomach as a pillow; the latter’s hand had wound up flung over the former’s face. 

            All was peaceful for a change, nothing came to disturb the group until later that morning, after the full moon had gone to bed and the birds were awake and busy looking for food.

            “What ARE they?”

            “Some kind of circus weirdos maybe?”

            “Should we wake them up?  They look like they might need help…”

            Noya was the first one to blink awake, sharp hearing catching the hushed voices a short distance away.  He turned his head toward the noise and waited for his eyes to adjust to the sunlight. 

            “One of them is awake!”

            Noya immediately perked up once he realized that they were being watched by three children: two boys and one girl.  He froze, debating what to do.  On the one hand they were only kids and more than likely didn’t pose any harm to them.  On the other hand they were still people who now knew about the existence of a bunch of mutant freaks and it would probably be best to hightail it out of there ASAP.  But before he could make a decision Lev woke up, eyes immediately catching those of the little girl a short ways away.

            Lev grinned, eyes glittering in excitement as he sat up, fluffy white tail twitching back and forth.  Without a word he stood up and made his way over to the children, despite Noya’s quiet protests.  The kids backed away from him rapidly, but their curiosity ultimately got the better of them and they stopped their retreat.

            “Hi!” Lev said happily, kneeling down so he didn’t tower over them.  “What are you guys doing out here?”

            “Um… we were just playing…” one of the boys said shyly.  He looked at the ground and shuffled his feet, light brown hair falling messily in front of his green eyes. 

            “We were playing tag when we found you and your friends!” the other boy piped up, brown eyes watching Lev excitedly.  “We’ve never seen you people before!”

            Lev’s smile widened.  “Well, we used to live in the woods, but our home caught on fire, so we had to leave,” he explained. 

            “Are you guys magic?” the little girl whispered.  Her blue eyes were wide with awe, and she clutched a teddy bear close to her chest. 

            “Something like that!” Lev laughed.  “We’re not very normal, that’s for sure.”

            The little girl smiled and held onto her bear tighter.  “Are your ears… real?”

            “What, these?”  Lev twitched his spotted ears a few times before answering the question.  “Yup!  They’re snow leopard ears!  At least, that’s that I’m told they are anyway.”

            “Are you part cat?” the brown eyed boy asked, fists clenched in excitement. 

            “Mhmm!”

            All three of the children made noises of astonishment, grins plastered on their faces.  At the same time Noya decided to venture over, looking back over his shoulder to make sure none of the others had woken up yet.  “Lev, what are you doing?” he asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.

            “I’m just talking to them, that’s all!”

            “Mister, are you part cat too?” the green eyed boy asked Noya.

            “Part- No, of course not!  I’m part bird!” he answered, pride getting the better of him.  “Birds are much cooler than cats!”

            “But you don’t look like part bird,” the girl said.

            “Only because you can’t see my best feature!  Look!”  Noya flung his wings out, proudly flapping them a few times just for show.  The children nearly went into hysterics at that, voices rising as their excitement grew.  By now several of the others had begun to wake up, Kuroo being the first.  As soon as he realized what was going on he strode over, a mix of anger and fear threatening to boil over.  He slapped a hand each on Lev and Noya’s shoulders, a smile forced on his face.

            “What exactly are you two doing?” he asked stiffly.

            “It’s another kitty!”

            Kuroo’s tail shot up at the words and he glanced down at the little girl, whose eyes couldn’t possibly get any wider at this point. 

            “Could I maybe pet your ears, mister kitty?” she asked sheepishly.  “They look really soft…”

            Kuroo swallowed, slightly embarrassed, but not quite as worried as he had been originally.  Lev and Noya looked at him expectantly, and he found that he couldn’t really refuse in this situation.

            “…yeah, alright.”  He knelt down in front of the girl, cheeks tinted red.

            “Thank you!!”  She reached forward and gently pet Kuroo’s ears, which twitched at the contact.  The girl giggled and pulled her hand back after a moment, grin never leaving her face.

            Kuroo found himself smiling as well.  “You’re welcome.”   


	12. What Now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'd think that I wouldn't forget about Seijoh so often considering they're my favorite team but y'know :^) Balancing so many characters is hard...
> 
> I'm back in college this week, but my schedule isn't too tightly packed so I hoooooope that I'll be able to get a chapter out at LEAST every two weeks, if not more often than that.
> 
> Also, how about that season 2 promo pic? I saw Akaashi and Bokuto in their full animated/color glory this morning and I couldn't have been happier!~
> 
> Sorry in advance for the angst~

            The moment the sun began to peek over the distant mountains the bird kids got up, ready to pursue their enemies and, with luck, rescue their friend.  Hinata stood and stretched his wings, shaking his feathers loose.  Beside him Kageyama did the same, stretching his arms forward and cracking his knuckles at the same time.  Nearby Daichi pulled Suga to his feet, the latter forcing himself to suppress a yawn in the process.  Yaku gently nudged Kenma with his foot.  The blond-haired boy grumbled quietly but forced himself to get up. 

            “Up and at ‘em, everyone,” Daichi said just loud enough for everyone to hear.  “We’ve got Erasers to chase.”

            “How are we gonna do this?” Yaku asked.  “Not all of us have wings, and if you try to carry us we’ll just slow you down.”

            The group fell into silence, the question hanging in the air.  “I… hadn’t thought of that,” Daichi sighed.  He ran a hand through his hair, eyes closing in frustration.  The few mutants without wings looked at their makeshift leader curiously.  As several moments passed without a solution, Kindaichi finally piped up.

            “Maybe we could meet the rest of you somewhere safe?  A place we can all get to?”

            “Yeah, because we know so many safe places,” Tsukishima muttered with an eye roll. 

           “Well then YOU come up with a better solution!” Kindaichi said angrily.  Tsukishima made no move to reply, his mouth turned down in a small frown.

            “I know where we can go,” Kenma said quietly.  Everyone turned to face him, quizzical expressions on their faces.  He shoved his hands into his hoodie pockets, tan ears flicking nervously.  “I had to pass through this area to get to the city where I bought my DS.  The place is big enough that we could probably find some place to stay undetected.”

            “How far away is it?” Suga asked.

            Kenma shrugged.  “Maybe a day’s run from here?”

            “Seeing as we don’t have any better plan, let’s go with that,” Daichi said decisively.  “Kenma, can you point us in the direction of the city?  We should fly over it so we can find it again when we come back.”

            “Yeah, it’s that way, towards the mountains.”  He pointed at the peaks in the distance.

            “Alright.  The three of you head to the city and find some place to stay without arousing suspicion.  We’ll come find you after we find Akaashi, or determine that we won’t be reaching him any time soon.”  Daichi looked the three non-winged mutants in the eye, inwardly wondering whether or not he’d ever see them again.  They nodded at him and Yaku took off towards the mountains, kicking up a trail of dust behind him.  Kenma and Kindaichi followed, calling back their goodbyes and good lucks.  After the three had receded into no more than specks in the distance Daichi snapped open his wings.  “Let’s go!”

            The rest of the bird kids shouted in acknowledgement, leaping into the air and soaring towards the mountains.

            ***

            Kuroo most definitely planned to give Lev and Noya a talking to later, but at the moment he had to decide what to do about the three children in front of him.  They had introduced themselves as Cameron, Ben, and Emma.  A continuous stream of questions bubbled from their mouths, eyes glittering with excitement with every new piece of information they gained.  Of course, they seemed harmless enough, but Kuroo wasn’t sure that he could keep them from saying anything once they got back home.  Even if he made them promise children were unpredictable and might accidentally let something slip.  And while people may not believe them, there was always the off chance that an adult or two would decide to look into the matter.

            “Ohoho?  What do we have here?”

            Kuroo glanced back to see that Bokuto had joined them.  A curious smile was on his face, eyes blinking almost owlishly as he observed the children. 

            “It seems we’ve been discovered,” Kuroo sighed.  His tail lashed back and forth in mild annoyance, mind still racing. 

            “What’s the problem?  They’re just kids!”  Bokuto’s grin widened.  “Besides, it’s not like we’ll be sticking around this place for much longer anyway.”

            “What?  But you just got here!” Ben exclaimed, a tinge of sadness in his voice.  “We want to know more about you guys!”

            “We’ve actually been around for a while,” Lev piped up.  “We were just in hiding!”

            “Did you have to stop hiding because of the fire?” Emma asked.

            Noya nodded.  “The fire came through our home and destroyed it like whoosh!”  He threw his arms up for emphasis, causing the children to jump. 

            “We were lucky to make it out alive!” Bokuto added.  “Then, just when we thought we were safe, we realized that the fire had trapped us in the forest!  We were stuck in there for days!”

            “My poor tail got singed in the process!” Lev said dramatically, pulling his tail in front of him.  True to his word though, the tip of it was bald where the fur had been burnt off.   

            “You guys sure talk loud…”

            The small group looked back to see Oikawa walking over.  He was rubbing the sleep from his eyes with his left hand, his right was in the process of covering up a yawn.  “Don’t you know that some of us need beauty sleep?”

            “It’s a good thing you don’t,” Kuroo said with a smirk.

            “What do you mean?”

            “Well, you’re so ugly, it’s impossible that you could ever sleep beautifully!”

            “HOW RUDE!”

            Their little back and forth made the kids giggle, and despite the insult Oikawa couldn’t really stay mad.  Besides, he knew that Kuroo didn’t mean it.  Eventually the laughter subsided and Cameron took notice of the lack of odd features on the new comer.  “Mister, are you part animal too?”

            “Who, me?” Oikawa asked and pointed to himself.  When Cameron nodded in confirmation he continued.  “As a matter of fact, I am!  Watch!”  Without hesitation the brunet began his transformation into his wolf form, completing the task in a matter of moments.  The children gasped, awestruck.  After the changes were complete Oikawa shook himself, allowing his soft brown fur to fluff up a bit.

            “Show off,” Noya scoffed.

            “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”  A rock accompanied the harsh words, hitting Oikawa directly on the back of the head.  He yelped in pain and whirled around.

            “Iwa-chan, don’t be so violent!  What if you bruise me?”

            “Good, then maybe you’ll learn a lesson.”

            The children resumed their giggling, and Kuroo finally allowed his mind to calm.  _Bokuto’s right.  These kids don’t pose any threat, and we’ll be long gone by the time they’re able to tell anybody about who they met today._

            ***

            Akaashi trembled on the floor of his metal cage, wings drawn up and over his head to keep out the nearly blinding light overhead.  He hadn’t even been in the lab for a full day, but the scientists had already injected him with various substances, most of which had caused him to be violently ill in some manner.  He was deathly pale and his feathers had fallen out in some places.  He assumed he had been left alone for the time being, his captors had discussed another experiment after dumping him back in his cage without a second thought.

            Akaashi could only hope that help would arrive soon, or that he’d be lucky and that a test preformed on him would give him a quick and easy death.


	13. Voices

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took awhile! College and mental illness are kicking my ass lmaaaaao
> 
> I'm taking the liberty of stretching out the canon Max Ride timeline a bit, because it feels like way too much was squished into a very short period of time in the series. 
> 
> Also this fic will probably only be a few more chapters... but there's gonna be a sequel! I'm getting everything planned out >:)
> 
> Enjoy!

            Daichi and Suga lead the way through the sky, powerful wings carrying them far and fast.  The rest of the winged mutants were spread out behind them, all eyes peeled for any sign of their missing friend and his captors.  They had been flying for about two hours, and so far there hadn’t been any clues as to where Akaashi could have been taken.  Hell, none of them even knew if they were flying in the right direction.  But the last thing they wanted to do was split up even further, they were already nervous that they’d had to leave Yaku, Kenma, and Kindaichi behind.  Morale was getting low, the task of finding one mutant bird kid who could be nearly anywhere in the entire world certainly seemed daunting after putting more thought into it.

            Hinata was nervously playing with the hem of his shirt, his palms occasionally pushing together, causing him to light up in short bursts.  Eventually he glided over to Suga, deciding to put forth the question he’d had on his mind for several minutes.  “Suga, wouldn’t it make more sense to try and figure out where they took Akaashi, and _then_ to fly there?”

           Suga mulled the suggestion over for a moment before replying.  “At this point, yes, that might be a good idea.  I think we’ve searched for as long as we can without a lead.  But…”  He glanced back at the others, worried and concentrated looks on their faces.  “I feel like nobody wants to stop searching just yet.”

            Hinata followed Suga’s gaze, lips falling into a frown.  “But won’t we just waste more time?”

            The older boy grimaced but didn’t get the chance to reply.

            “I think you’re right, Hinata,” Daichi said as he swooped over.  “We should find a nearby town to visit.  Maybe they’ll have a library with computers we can use to search for information.”            ***

            The three kids left behind had had a similar idea.  After Kenma had led them to the city they’d be using as a makeshift base Yaku had spoken up about wanting to do something to help search as well.  Kindaichi had suggested finding a way to access the internet, but Yaku had shot down the plan of venturing further into town than absolutely necessary.  After all, he and Kenma had very visible cat ears and tails that were rather hard to conceal.  And when Kindaichi suggested going along Yaku had hit him over the head and called him an idiot.  Splitting up even further was just too dangerous. 

            Kenma waited until the other two had stopped squabbling to speak up.  “You know, if I can find a wi-fi connection, my DS can search the internet.”

            Yaku considered hitting Kenma on the head too, but decided against it.  “Why the hell didn’t you say so sooner?  Come on, let’s walk around the edges of the city and try to find a connection.”

            And so they did.  Luckily it didn’t take too long for them to find an unsecure connection emanating from one of the many Starbucks scattered around the area.  Kenma connected and booted up the internet browser on his device.  The entire process was painfully slow and Yaku looked ready to spontaneously combust part of the time, but eventually Kenma was able to start punching in search terms.  Kindaichi suggested to first search for ‘science facilities’, though that search didn’t prove very useful.  Yaku had Kenma search for news articles involving genetic experiments, but all the results were pretty typical and harmless.  They spent nearly an hour and a half trying different things, but nothing seemed to work.  However, when Kenma searched for ‘bird kids’ they one very interesting result.

            There was a news article from New York from about five years ago detailing a sighting of ‘kids with wings.’  A blurry photo was included, showing the forms of six humanoid shapes in the sky.  Upon looking at the date, the three realized that the article was written not long before they’d been freed from their own captivity.  Kenma backed out of the article and started to narrow down the search topic, eventually finding some articles that had seemed dubious or irrelevant upon first glance.  He clicked on one such story from nearly six years ago, detailing how a secret research facility apparently named “The School” had been destroyed in the middle of a desert.

            “’The School,’ huh?” Yaku said, eyes on the tiny screen.  “Think we came from a place related to that?”

            Kenma shrugged.  “It’s possible.  The first article we found might have been about the kids who rescued us back then.  If this place is linked to them…”

            “Maybe we should search for those guys?” Kindaichi asked.  “It seems like they’ve been busy.”

            “It might be worth a shot.”  Yaku stood up and rolled his shoulders.  “But I think we need to find the others and tell them what we found out before we make any hasty decisions.  Let’s find a place to lay low until they come back, shall we?”

            “Sorry, but we can’t let you do that.”

            The trio spun around at the new voice and found themselves face to face with a group of young men.  While their current forms would be able to fool any normal human, it was quite obvious that they were un-morphed Erasers.           

            _How did we let them sneak up on us?!_   Yaku got into a fighting stance, his tail fluffed up and ears laid back against his head.  Kindaichi began to change forms at the same time the Erasers did, fear evident in his eyes.  Kenma backed away slowly.  The three of them were heavily outnumbered, and the situation was not looking good.  _We’re toast…_   Yaku glanced back at Kenma.  “Kenma, get out of here!  Find the others and tell them what we found out!”

            Although his brain screamed at him not to leave his friends behind Kenma was smart enough to know when retreat was the sensible idea.  Getting the new information to the rest of the mutants would be more helpful to Yaku and Kindaichi than sticking around to get captured as well.  So Kenma turned abruptly and began to sprint in the direction he had seen the others flying earlier that day.  Behind him he heard Yaku tackle one of the Erasers who had attempted pursuit.  He continued running long after he realized that he had dropped his DS on the ground and had left it behind.

            ***

            Something was wrong.

            Something was _very very wrong_.

            Akaashi had finally managed to fall asleep, exhaustion outweighing his fear.  But now here he was, trapped in something between a dream and a nightmare.  He stood in a pitch black room, noises bombarding him from all sides.  He couldn’t see anything, but the sounds _just kept coming_. 

            Then the voices started.

            Oh, the voices.  They told him many things.  Most of those things were horrible, awful things.  But others, others filled him with hope.  The voices spoke of the end of the world, but they also spoke of a rise from the ashes and a new world.  They yelled at him that the end was a good thing, that everything needed to finish in order to give new life a chance. 

            The voices told him that it was his job to help end the world.

            He yelled and denied, he screamed for the voices to shut up and leave him alone.  But they continued, and they continued to preach until he finally awoke from his fitful slumber.  Akaashi was very nearly relieved when he felt himself being dragged out of his cage, glad that at the very least the voices had _stopped_.

            Though time would only tell what other horrors he’d have to face that day.


	14. Farewells

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daisuga is love, Daisuga is life.
> 
> I'm so hype for season 2, you guys have no idea.
> 
> ON A MORE SERIOUS NOTE: I've started up a Haikyuu Star Wars AU fic! Only the prologue is up right now but I'm gonna do my best to get the first chapter up tomorrow night. If you like Star Wars I'd appreciate it if you checked it out ;) Enjoy!

            Kenma ran as long and as hard as he could.  He ignored his lungs as they screamed for air, he ignored the pounding ache in his legs, he ignored the dust that was kicked up in his face.  He had to find the others and help them in their search, otherwise three of his friends could be lost forever.  Yaku and Kindaichi must have been successful in holding back the Erasers because nobody pursued Kenma, and before long the only sounds he could hear were his own desperate breaths and the pounding of his feet on the ground.  _Please… Let me find them soon!_

            ***

            An Eraser smashed Yaku’s head into the ground, dirt coming up to settle in his nostrils and mouth.  He spat angrily, swear words struggling to form on his bruised lips.  Kindaichi was lying on the ground a short distance away, unconscious.  Blood seeped from a cut on Yaku’s forehead.  “Damn, he’s still struggling.”  The Eraser gripped Yaku harder, claws ripping through the fabric of his shirt and digging into the flesh on his back.  “This little shrimp is tougher than he looks.”

            Yaku held back a yelp as the Eraser’s claws tore at his skin, determined not to let them see he was in pain.  One of the other mutants picked Kindaichi up by the back of his shirt and dragged him over so he was parallel to Yaku.  His body hit the ground with a soft “thwump” and the Erasers snickered.  Yaku pushed himself up shakily.  “You bastards…  Why won’t you just leave us alone?” 

            The answer to his question came in the form of a kick to the ribs.  Air whooshed out of Yaku’s lungs and his arms gave out, causing his face to crash into the ground once more.  The Erasers cackled.  Before Yaku could recover feet fell on him, kick after kick was directed at his already broken body, ripping a cry from his mouth.  A single well-placed strike hit his head, and the cat-boy fell unconscious.

            ***

            “Guys, we need to get going.”

            Kuroo had returned from washing up at the river, ears and tail still damp.  He spoke with authority, trying to assume command of their awkward little group.  The others mumbled their displeasure, the kids especially.

            “But Mister Kuroo, we want to play with you guys more!” Ben said loudly.  “We’ve never seen people as cool as you guys before!”

            Bokuto reached out and ruffled his brown hair, a grin on his face.  “Sorry kiddo, but we have to find the rest of our friends!”  Ben pouted in response, tears forming at the corners of his eyes.  “Hey now, don’t cry!  Here, I have an idea!”  Bokuto spread his wings out once more and reached back, feeling around.  After several moments and a wince later he brought his arm forward again, this time holding one of his snowy feathers.  “It’s one of my feathers!  You can have it to remember us by!”  He handed the feather to Ben excitedly.

            “Gross,” Kuroo muttered under his breath.

            Ben took the feather, eyes wide.  Emma and Cameron scooted closer, curiosity piqued.  Eventually the first boy broke into a wide smile.  “Oh man, thank you!  This is the coolest present I’ve ever gotten!  We’ll never forget you guys!”

            “You better not!” Noya piped up.  His hair was flattened down after being scrubbed in the river.  “One day we’ll come back to check on you guys, and we expect you to remember us!”

            “Yeah!”  Lev’s tail flicked back and forth.  “And when we come back we’ll have plenty of time to play, and you can meet our other friends too!”

            The children nodded excitedly and began talking about all the fun things they’d do when they met again.  Then one by one the mutants began to take to the air, bird kids carrying their flightless friends as gently as they could.  A few minutes later and the children were nothing more but specks on the ground far below.  “You know we’re probably never gonna come back here, right?” Kuroo asked, looking up at Bokuto.

            “I know, but I didn’t want to leave them feeling sad,” Bokuto replied.  A sad smile was on his face.  “Plus, I like to think that maybe one day we won’t have to worry about hiding anymore.”

            “Mmm…”  Kuroo chewed on his lip thoughtfully.  “I don’t know if that day will ever come, but it’s nice to think that it will.”

            ***

            A full day later and they were no closer to finding Akaashi than they had been the day before.  Suga sat at a computer in a public library, face scrunched up as he desperately tried to think of searches he hadn’t already used.  Hinata sat in a corner a short ways away, face buried in a book about volleyball.  Kageyama sat next to him, reading over his shoulder.  Daichi was at the computer next to Suga’s, eyes intensely focused on the screen in front of him.  The information they were looking for was either incredibly well hidden or non-existent, but in either case they weren’t getting anywhere.  Suga sat back, sighing and rubbing his forehead.  He glanced around the room to make sure everyone was still there.  Yamaguchi and Tsukishima were browsing some shelves nearby, occasionally snickering at the title of a book.  _At least they’re enjoying themselves…_

            “Suga, you feeling alright?”

            He glanced over at Daichi who had a worried look on his face.  Suga tried his best to give a reassuring smile, but it came out as more tired than anything else.  “I’m fine, Daichi.  Just tired and worried.”

            Daichi leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss to Suga’s cheek, lingering there for a moment or two before pulling back.  “We’ll get through this,” he murmured.  “We’ll rescue Akaashi and find the others, then we’ll figure out where to go from there.”

            Suga nodded.  “Right, we’ll be fine.”  He reached up and stretched, allowing a soft groan to make itself heard.  “Now let’s get back to searching the internet, there has to be something here somewhere.”


	15. Madness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was entirely too much fun to write. I apologize, there's nothing but angst in here.

            Akaashi was becoming increasingly aware of his surroundings, it seemed like all of his senses had been heightened.  Every object he touched sent a jolt through his fingers, every noise was louder than it should have been.  But the worst part was that the voices seemed to be back; whispering in his ears and playing with his mind despite the fact that he was very much awake.

            At least he assumed he was.

            Akaashi had been locked in a plain room with black walls and white carpet.  A few objects had been scattered around for some unknown purpose, and two speakers were fastened to the walls, one on the left and one on the right.  He had no idea what the point of this was, assuming that it had something to do with the injection they had given him earlier.  He knew that they had done something to him, that the voices had to be part of some sadistic experiment.  But his mind was quickly panicking and thinking irrationally, he couldn’t seem to talk reason to himself.  Akaashi began to rock back and forth from his spot on the floor, knees drawn up to his chest, breath beginning to come in gasps.

            “This isn’t real, it’s not real, I’m dreaming…  This is all just a nightmare…”

            _Oh, but it’s **not** a dream!  This is all very much real.  Akaashi, you need to listen to us, we know what we’re talking about.  Don’t push us away!”_

            Sweat began to bead on Akaashi’s forehead, his pupils dilated.  He threw his hands up to cover his ears, hoping that doing so would quiet the voices in his head.  To his dismay nothing appeared to change.  He screwed his eyes shut as he felt another barrage approaching.

            _There’s nothing you can do to stop us, Akaashi.  Please, stop resisting!  You were chosen for a very important mission!_

            Akaashi curled into a ball and laid down, arms covering his head.  He shuddered, trying to retain some semblance of calm.  The part of his mind that was still rational did its best to reassure him that everything would be fine, to ignore the voices entirely.  “Leave me alone!  I won’t listen to anything you have to say!”

            _You don’t have much choice in the matter.  I’m afraid that if you won’t cooperate we’ll have no other option than to take your mind by force.  And I don’t think you’d like that very much._

            He stiffened.  The voices were _threatening_ him now?  What power could they possibly have?  Surely they were just a figment of his imagination, there’s no way they could actually follow through on their threats.  No, Akaashi would never give in.  He wouldn’t listen to the awful voices that tormented him.  He refused to be held captive by two entities at once.  “Go away,” he croaked.  “Please just leave.”

            _…we can’t do that. Sadly you have left us with no other choice.  We’ll be taking over now, don’t resist too much if you don’t want to suffer permanent emotional damage._

            The voices vanished suddenly, and Akaashi would have felt relieved if not for those final words.  He sat up and cracked his eyelids open slightly, finding himself still in the empty room.  His heart was pounding as he looked around.  For several moments nothing happened.  But the moment Akaashi began to relax he was overtaken by a throbbing pain in his head, so great that he doubled over and a scream was wrenched from him.  A white light shone behind his eyes, blinding him entirely.  The pain radiated from his head to the rest of his body, working its way down.  Less than a minute later and it felt like every single one of his nerves was on fire.  Akaashi couldn’t stop screaming, his entire body shook with unseen effort. 

            Then a direct attack on his brain begun.

            Images flooded through Akaashi’s mind; pictures of bombs and wreckage, piles of corpses, people wearing gas masks, decimated fields littered with the bodies of entire herds of animals.  The pain that accompanied these images was unbearable; he was convinced he was going to die.  Akaashi tried to force the pictures from his mind with the little strength he still had but was rewarded with a sharp pang, causing him to choke on his screeches.  He clawed at his forehead, nails leaving gouges on his skin.  But the pain caused by the scratching was practically non-existent compared to what he was currently going through. 

            The images fell away and were replaced by sounds and words that Akaashi couldn’t make sense of.  The speech was garbled, none of the words sounded real.  He heard buildings collapsing, of cars crashing into each other, hurricanes and earthquakes, volcanos, screaming, crying, explosions-

            Akaashi vomited, the sensory overload he was going through proving to be too much for him to handle.  Pictures once again replaced the sounds, but this time they were more peaceful, though not without disasters mixed in as well.  A field of flowers with the remains of a city in the background, a forest growing up from the ashes of a once great structure, a pure and pristine ocean with the empty hull of a tanker floating silently along the surface. 

            As the pictures continued Akaashi slowly began to regain control of himself, eyes glazing over as he focused on what was going on in his mind.  The voices returned, this time louder and more forceful. 

            _Look, Akaashi.  Look at what the world can and **must** become.  The Earth is dying, it needs help to recover from the diseases humans have given it.  And just as forests are able to regrow bigger and better after a fire, so can the entire Earth come back even stronger after its been cleansed.  Don’t you want to help?  Don’t you care about your home?_

            Akaashi nodded sub-consciously.  Yes, it was awful that humans were polluting and killing the Earth, slowly but surely.  Maybe they didn’t mean to, maybe they were trying to fix things in their own way, but it _wasn’t enough_.

            _Exactly, Akaashi.  Now you understand.  So will you join us and help the Earth recover?_

            A twisted smile found its way onto Akaashi’s face, and he stood up, legs still a tad shaky.  His hands were shaking as well, and he held them in front of his face.  Did those hands even belong to him…?

            The door to the little room swung inward, bathing the area in a harsh light.  Akaashi turned, eyes meeting those of a scientist who looked very pleased with himself.  “Well now, it seems as though you’ve discovered a place in your mind that you have never previously encountered before.  How are you doing, dear experiment?”

            Akaashi returned his gaze to his hands for a few more moments before responding.  “I feel fantastic.  I feel like I can accomplish anything.”  His smile widened, his hands shook more violently.  “I know what I have to do now.”

            The scientist grinned, a nasty glint in his eyes.  “Good.  Well then I suppose it’s time for us to inform you of the mission we have for you.  Follow me, please.”  He spun around on his heel, leading the way deeper into the facility.  Akaashi followed, legs suddenly sturdy despite having been shaking just moments ago.

            Elsewhere, Bokuto suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, and his mood soured inexplicably.    


	16. Growing Fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY I DISAPPEARED... I lost motivation, and I kinda started feeling bad about my writing for a short period of time so... In any case, here's a new chapter, at long last! Only a few more until a small break and the second part of this series. Also I'm gonna try to update the star wars au tonight as well! Enjoy :)

            The bird kids had taken refuge in a park across the street from the public library for the night.  They lounged in the branches of trees, wings sprawled out to help them maintain their balance as they slept.  Daichi and Suga slept on branches parallel to each other, each had one hand stretched out in order to hold onto one another even while unconscious.  Tsukishima gazed up at the night sky on a branch near the top of a tree and occasionally glanced down to check on Yamaguchi who was sleeping peacefully on the branch below.  Kageyama and Hinata were sleeping in the bushes on the ground after being unable to get comfortable in the branches.  Despite the circumstances they were all managing to sleep more or less peacefully.

            It was at this point that Kenma crashed into the park, nose and ears twitching in sync with his tail as he followed the invisible traces his friends had left behind.  His eyes were wild and his breathing was heavy, having not stopped running for even a moment since he fled from the Erasers.  Despite his panic he managed to keep himself still as his eyes searched the trees, mind telling him that the others were most likely sleeping where they were least likely to be found.

            Tsukishima, alerted by the small noises Kenma had made, sat up and looked at the ground senses on high alert.  He scanned the area nervously until his eyes fell upon Kenma’s tense form.  Upon seeing him, Tsukki leapt from his perch and landed lightly on the ground, quickly approaching the cat mutant after getting back on his feet.  Kenma started, tail and ears fluffed up in fear before he realized who was approaching him.  “What are you doing here?” Tsukki asked quietly as he came to a stop in front of the other.

            “Please wake up the others,” Kenma responded.  “Everyone needs to hear this.”

            ***

            Bokuto sat on the ground, chin resting in his hand in thought.  Lev stood a short distance away, shoving chips in his mouth as he watched Bokuto curiously.  “What’s the matter, Bokuto?” he asked in between chews.

            “Oi, don’t talk with your mouth full,” Kuroo called.  He was seated by a makeshift campfire they’d started, warming his hands.

            Lev swallowed before replying.  “Sorry, I’m just wondering what’s making Bokuto think so hard.”

            Bokuto grimaced and stood up, moving to plop down next to Kuroo where he then laid his head on the other’s shoulder.  “I just have this bad feeling, that’s all,” he muttered.

            “You sure you didn’t just eat something funny?” Kuroo asked.  “I mean, we’ve been living off of stuff we can find in dumpsters or steal.”

            “I’m sure,” Bokuto replied.  “I got it earlier today.  My stomach just suddenly dropped and this funny chill ran through me.  I don’t like it at all.”

            Kuroo ruffled Bokuto’s hair affectionately as a thoughtful expression took over his features.  “Considering we’re split up from about half of our original members it’d make sense if you were just anxious,” he mused.  “Maybe that’s all it is?”

            Bokuto didn’t look entirely convinced, but he hummed in response anyway.  “Yeah, maybe that’s it.” 

            “We’re back!~”  Oikawa, Iwaizumi, and Kiyoko walked into the area bathed in firelight, arms weighed down with food.  Yachi ran over to greet them and help carry the food.  “It’s amazing what you can find in the garbage behind restaurants,” Oikawa continued.  “They throw away perfectly good food for no good reason!”

            “I can’t believe how wasteful normal humans are,” Iwaizumi grumbled as he started passing out hamburgers and french-fries. 

            “It is pretty sad,” Yachi said.  She was trailing behind Kiyoko to help pass out more food.  When they tried to hand Bokuto a piece of pie he shook his head, refusing. 

            “No thanks, I’m not hungry.”

            Kuroo looked at his friend like he had just lost his mind.  “What do you mean you’re not hungry???? You’re always hungry.”

            Bokuto shrugged.  “’m just not hungry,” he said quietly.  He stood up, a tense expression on his face, and went to sit back down further away from the others.  Everyone else exchanged worried looks, trying to decide what they should do now that one of their cheeriest friends had gotten suddenly gloomy.

            ***

            “Erasers attacked you?” Daichi asked, fear taking over his features.  Suga stood next to him, wringing his hands nervously. 

            Kenma nodded and opened his mouth to continue.  “We were in the forest, looking for information on where they might have taken Akaashi, and just when we found something that might’ve been important they jumped out at us.”

            Quiet murmurs sounded through the group and Hinata looked on the verge of tears.  Yamaguchi was shaking slightly, only calming down when Tsukishima rested a hand on his shoulder. 

            “What did you find out?” Daichi prompted, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. 

            Kenma wracked his memory and conjured back the conversation they were having prior to being attacked.  “We found out about this place called ‘the school’… it sounded like it was related to the place we came from.  We didn’t get to find out any more than that though.  It seemed like the Erasers didn’t want us to know about it.”

            “Sounds like you three found a solid lead,” Suga said.  “I’m glad you were able to escape and find us.”

            At that Kenma’s tail and ears drooped, sadness engulfing him.  “I just wish Yaku and Kindaichi were here too.”

            Hinata reached out and placed a gentle hand on Kenma’s head, causing the latter to look up.  “We’ll find them,” he insisted.  “Now that we know where to start looking, we’ll find them and Akaashi in no time!”

            Kenma managed a small smile.  “Thanks, Shouyou.”

            ***

            Yaku awoke on the floor of a cold, metallic cage.  He held his head and groaned as he sat up, eyes slowly focusing on a pair of feet in front of him.  Gritting his teeth he looked up to meet the gaze of the figure on the other side of the bars.

            His blood ran cold when he realized it was Akaashi, looking down at him with a grin that was nothing less than insane.


	17. A Ray of Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EHEHEHEHE THE LAST CHAPTER
> 
> But don't worry, I'll be making a sequel! I just wanted to finish this so I had one less thing on my mind during finals for the next two weeks. I should have the sequel up just in time for Christmas!
> 
> Thanks for sticking with me so far guys, and I hope you liked the first installment of this series!

            “Good, you’re awake.”

            Yaku stared at Akaashi, eyes still wide in shock.  The pain he felt all over was momentarily forgotten as his brain raced with questions.  What was going on?  Why was Akaashi standing outside the cage?  Was there something wrong with him?  Had the scientists done something to him?  He shook his head to clear it, groaning softly when the pain returned with the movement.  “A-Akaashi?  Is that you?  Are you alright?”

           Akaashi chuckled lowly and Yaku fought the urge to shrink back in on himself.  “I’m much more than alright, Yaku.  I’ve been enlightened, I feel like a brand new person.”  As he spoke his eyes seemed to focus on something in the distance and his wings stretched out ever so slightly.  “I know what I have to do now, Yaku.  And I know that you’ll help me when the time comes.  The others will help too, we’ll be heroes!”

            Yaku’s fear continued to build at the ominous words, and he found himself wanting to snap Akaashi out of whatever delusions had been planted in his head.  “Akaashi- Listen… I don’t know what the hell these madmen showed you or what they told you but they’re crazy, they made us as _experiments_ , all they ever want to do is harm us, they’re the bad guys-“

            Akaashi’s gaze was on Yaku once more but it was much fiercer than it had been.  “ _They’re_ the bad guys… huh?  How funny… At this point in time, _you’re_ my enemy, not them.  But that’s okay, Yaku.  I know you’ll change your mind soon, after you’re seen what I have.”  Without another word he smiled and left, humming a happy little tune Yaku was unfamiliar with.  Yaku sat silently in his cage, hands gripping the bars much harder than he thought possible.  He tried to collect his thoughts and calm the fear pulsing through his veins.  It didn’t take him long to remember that he hadn’t been captured alone, and he began to wildly look around for Kindaichi.  Much to his relief the other boy was in the cage directly to his left, unconscious and badly injured, but clearly alive and breathing.  Yaku reached out to gently shake Kindaichi’s arm to try and wake him.  “Hey… Kindaichi, are you okay?  Wake up… please…”

            But nothing happened, not even a slight twitch.  Yaku sighed and fell against the back of the cage, ears drooping in exhaustion.  His tail was still fluffed up from the scare he had received a few minutes ago, and he gently brushed it with his hand to get the fur to lie back down.  He felt himself wishing for the ability to squeeze through tiny spaces like Kenma could, that way he could at least try and get himself and Kindaichi out.  But for now there was nothing he could do but wait and hope that Kenma would pull through and bring the others to the rescue.

            ***

            Daichi and Suga got their group moving at dawn, but the going was slower now that they had to take turns carrying Kenma in the air.  The cat boy had apologized multiple times as well had insisted that he be left behind, but the bird kids wouldn’t hear it.  After losing Yaku and Kindaichi they simply weren’t willing to risk Kenma’s safety in order to fly a little bit faster.  Kageyama and Hinata were working together to carry Kenma at present, wings straining with effort at the extra weight.  “How are you doing down there?” Hinata asked, looking down at their passenger.  

            “I’m okay,” Kenma said quietly, tail flicking lightly.  “…though I just realized that I lost my DS.  Considering the present situation this is dumb but… I’m really sad it’s gone.”

            Kageyama snorted.  “It’s not dumb, you worked hard for it, it’s only normal that you’d be sad, idiot.”

            “Oh.  Thanks, I think?”

            Most of the flight took place in silence; everyone was focused solely on flying as fast as they could toward their destination.  Every two hours or so they’d switch Kenma around but ultimately needed to stop for a short rest just before dusk.  Suga and Daichi insisted, despite the fact that nobody wanted to stop.  “We’re no use to anybody if we’re exhausted,” Daichi had said.

            Hinata looked at the sky as he began to drift off, tears pricking lightly at the corners of his eyes.  He brushed them away gently and turned over, forcing his eyes shut.  _Don’t cry, you need to be strong.  Just get a little sleep and before you know it you’ll be back up and going to save your friends.  Be strong, Akaashi, Yaku, and Kindaichi!  We’ll be there soon!_

            ***

            Yaku awoke with a jolt as something began banging on the top of his cage.  The noise was loud and seemed to reverberate through his entire being.  He crawled toward the pair of feet on the outside and looked up, swallowing thickly when he met Akaashi’s eyes once more.

            Akaashi smiled, though this on was a little more tame than the one he had originally been greeted with.  “Hello, Yaku.  I just wanted to say goodbye before I left on a little trip.”

            “A ‘trip???’  Where exactly are you going?” Yaku asked as fear once again gripped his heart.

            “I need to find some of the others and bring them here, that’s all,” Akaashi shrugged.  “It shouldn’t take long.”

            “You can’t hurt your friends!” Kindaichi whimpered.  Yaku hadn’t noticed that he was awake as well.  Akaashi turned to face the younger boy.

            “As long as they’re opposed to my mission they are not my friends,” Akaashi said simply.  “I’m going to bring them here to give them the opportunity to join my cause.  Speaking of that, I heard that you two will be undergoing some treatments soon.  It shouldn’t be long until you understand everything!”  The faraway look had returned to Akaashi’s eyes and his grin once again became manic.  “It will be so wonderful when you see everything the way I do.  But now, I must go.  See you two soon.”

            Yaku and Kindaichi exchanged a nervous look.  _What exactly had happened to Akaashi?_

            “We can fix this, right, Yaku?” Kindaichi asked quietly.

            “O-of course we can!  I don’t know what they did to Akaashi but I’m sure we can get him back to normal.  The real Akaashi is in there somewhere, I’m sure of it.”  Yaku tried to believe his own words with all of his heart and he pushed away the doubt eating at his mind.  He simply couldn’t accept the possibility that Akaashi was beyond saving.  If there was a way to reverse whatever the hell had been done to him, then they’d find it, no matter how long they had to search.


End file.
